This forum exists to so that writers can interchange ideas, advice, opinions, and help. There are very few hard and fast rules. But one, I would think, is that it is inadmissable to insult or bully other users. It therefore came as a shock to find that I, myself, was accused of bullying. I was also [indirectly] accused of laying down – or trying to lay down – arbitrary rules for others. I find this rather ironic, considering that I am one of the house Anarchists. On numerous occasions, when other members have handed down what seemed to me hard-and-fast rules on how to write, I have raised my voice to object: “Creative writing should have no rules. And – if there are rules – just rememember that rules are there to be broken. Countless works of pure genius – in whatever field – are the result of someone brave enough to break the rules.” Beethoven was heavily criticised by traditionalists/purists for sullying the holy art of writing symphonies by adding a choral 4th movement to his 9th Symphony. The world would be a poorer place if he had heeded that criticism.
I originally planned to entitle this article 'An apology for, and in defence of my “outbreak” '. But on reflection, I changed my mind. There is a difference between being sorry and apologising. Apologising signifies an admission that one was in the wrong. I am truly sorry that some people THOUGHT that I was throwing my weight around. But I wasn't. So I won't apologise. I was expressing an honestly held wish. I stand by that wish. Could I have expressed myself better? Yes. Could I have couched my wish in terms that would have made obvious that it was only a personal wish? Certainly. I will attempt to do so further down.
But first let me remind people that the technology of this Q&A section is far from perfect. Unlike “Shared Works”, italics, boldface, and underlining are impossible. Virtually the only way of indicating emphasis is by the use of capital letters... which some readers [falsely] interpret as the printed equivalent of shouting. Unlike “Shared Works”, it is impossible to edit a comment on Q&As once it has been posted.
So to the editng... Instead of writing
“Could people who announce their shared works here on Q&As PLEASE
a) give HERE the URL of the particular work they want comments on;
b) let us know a little about the work here (genre, target reading public, length, etc.)?”
I could have written
“Hi, Toni!
“Thanks for sharing your work!
“You might find that you'll attract more readers (of the type who would appreciate your work) if you would give further details (such as genre, target reading public, length, etc.) of your work here.
“A URL would also help us to find your work more quickly.”
Let me recap a little. “PLEASE” does not equate to “Any halfwit should know that...” or anything vaguely resembling that.
When I was a newcomer to this site, there was a debate (which has been repeated a few times since then): “Should people be allowed to announce their shared work on Q&As?” I honestly can't remember which side I took back then. It's a moot point, because people do it anyway. I have done it myself on one occasion.
Now: the REASON for my wish that people give this information (genre, etc.):
When I feel like surfing “Shared Works”, I go directly to that section of this web-site. I don't know just how many times I have gone there because someone on Q&As has written, basically: “Please read my work” without offering any further enticement, but they certainly haven't reached double figures. Having done so, about a quarter of the times I have been REALLY glad I did so, about a quarter of the time, I have been pleasantly entertained. And about half of the time, I have felt that I was wasting my time.
Aside from my “connections” on this site, there are probably less than half a dozen users whose names would attract me to their “Shared Works”, purely on the basis of an invitation. Because I've enjoyed works of theirs in the past, because they've written thought-provoking comments on Q&As, or because I'm curious just what they'd write as fiction.
I don't know Toni Marshall (to give just one example) from Eve. What would make me make the detour to her work? Now, if she'd written: 'I have posted a comic poem for children on “Shared Works” ', I'd have gone there like a shot. If she'd written: '[…] a 100-word detective (or any other genre) story', ditto. If she'd written: '[…] a 3,000-word excerpt from my epic romance between a vampire and a normal human', I would have known to avoid it like the plague... unless she'd added '(a piss-take on the whole “Twilight” genre)'. But then, she might have attracted a truly appreciative reader in my stead.
I'm sorry that Toni felt that I was shouting at her. I wasn't. You're right, Toni: I don't get to make the rules, I don't own the site. Bloomsbury Press owns the site. They get to make the rules. We're lucky to be able to use it. Many sites akin to it have disappeared.
That Toni should have felt so under attack through my lone comment – even though she received at least one enthusiastic review from Clare Williams – that she erased her work is a shame. But, as I've written, I don't know her from Eve. That Lorraine Swoboda – whom I respect as few others on this site – should have accused me of hectoring (definition: “talking in a bullying manner) and 'authoritarian scolding' really stung.
But I'm not apologising.
@ Lorraine ("I am sorry if my opinion has upset you; it's only my opinion, and really, what does that matter? You don't know me from Eve either.")
It matters because - after years of sharing this site - you should (underlined) know me from Adam. you should know that I, too, have put a great deal of my time and energy into giving support and advice to others. We have sometimes differed on opinions and advice, but I would have hoped that you trusted me not to be a (verbal) bully.
I have jumped on sacred cows such as Tolkien, Austen, and Rowling, opining that they're dreadfully over-rated. I have NEVER told an unpublished writer that their work was rubbish and that they're wasting their - and my - time. (I once told an adolescent wannabe that she was wasting her time writing a Twilight clone, but I didn't rubbish her writing [difficult, because - as far as I know - she never shared any]. I just advised her to change her genre, that vampire romances had had their day. I also sent her a connection request [because my publishing company is interested in the idea of publishing young authors] and she threatened to denounce me. [Supposedly for sexual harrassment of a minor - another case of wildly jumping to conclusions!]) If the author mentioned in my last post had done a rewrite and asked my opinion, I would have given it a second reading.
True: I'm not always tactful.But would you rather have pretty words or the truth?
Thanks, Ellen and Lorraine!
You have each brought up a point that I intended to deal with in my original post, but didn't get around to:
a) Ellen's point of agents. There is no end of advice - totally correct advice - on this web-site that if we want an agent to read the whole of our 3-chapter submission, we have to grab their attention right from the beginning. If they're bored by the end of page 1, they're never going to make it to page 20... probably not to page 2. And some won't even make it to the end of page 1.
So, to get me to read your work (I use "me" and "your" generically here), you've got to convince me that it's going to be worth my while. Why not do that in your original Q&A? I'm sure that I (not generic use of "I" here) am not the only site member who doesn't bother with the vast majority of "please review my work" requests on Q&As UNLESS we're motivated to do so... and that means convincing us HERE.
b) Lorraine's point that you often can't tell accurately from a printed sentence the emotions that went into composing it. And yet both Toni and Lorraine assumed that I was being aggressive and overbearing.
Another point that I was toying with mentioning but didn't, so I'm VERY glad that Ellen brought it up: To make headway as a writer (in the sense of getting published), we all need thick skins. If you're going to shrink away from alleged criticism, how are you going to react when genuine criticism is levelled at you?
I once gave a very sincerely meant opinion on someone's story on "Shared Work". I said that it didn't seem credible that a boy who said "Him's always doing so-and-so" and used similar excruciating grammar in one sentence should speak like a university literature lecturer in the next. I stated the truth: that the first 4 paragraphs had decided me not to read the rest of the story. (I'm sure that an agent would have reacted in exactly the same way.) The author responded by visiting two of my shared works and spewing bile over them*. He admitted that he had no interest in the genres and would never have viewed my work if it hadn't been to get me back. and that I had no right to criticise his work if I hadn't bothered to read it right through.
* e.g. Criticising a poem addressed to a 3-year-old for rhyming!!!
I come to this site to help people to get the best out of their writing experience - that's it, first, last and always.
When a person writes that they'd like some feedback, that's what they want: they don't expect to be told they've done the wrong thing and broken some unknown protocol.
I found your post to be unnecessarily forceful, Jimmy: the use of capitals is visually aggressive, like banner headlines on tabloid papers. I know that italics are not possible here yet (they have been promised) but the substitution of capitals gives the words a different emphasis. I used the phrase 'somewhat hectoring', and that was how it sounded to me. This is in part because it is a repeat of a previous request of yours that people should give the URL of their piece - a requirement that does not exist on this site. Whether Toni was also aware of that, I have no idea.
She appears to have removed all her work as a direct result of this matter, which I'd have said was more than a shame. I don't know her either, or any of the posters here, but I do my best for any that I reply to, because that's what they have a right to expect.
Differences of opinion happen and can get out of control on any site. If you ask ten people for their take on a piece of writing, you will get ten very different responses. Quote one rule - about adverbs, say - and you'll get answers in defence of them or against them. That's why writing is volatile and lively and ever-changing.
There's one thing, however, that does not change: if I write something, I am the only person who will ever hear it in my voice, and as I intend it to sound. I can do my best to make sure that it goes on the page as it leaves my thought processes, but ultimately every single reader will hear it in their own voice.
That applies here. What you thought of as a gentle request, Jimmy, didn't translate for Toni, or for me, as such. I am sorry if my opinion has upset you; it's only my opinion, and really, what does that matter? You don't know me from Eve either. We'll just have to agree to differ, as people of strong opinions must, and carry on as usual, doing what we do in our own different ways.
Lorraine